Shuttle helps define industry

A small speck twinkled high above the Mojave Desert over the largest dry lakebed in the world. Dana Barftholomew in the Daily News.

Then it swooped down toward NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, where 300,000 giddy space fans who had trekked to Edwards Air Force Base watched it grow into a fuselage with wings.

The world's first space shuttle glided toward Rogers Dry Lake on April 14, 1981. The double sonic booms heralded the silent nose-in-the-air touchdown at more than 200 mph.

For those who'd built, then helped guide the swan-like Columbia home, she was a beauty to behold.